ICS Calendar Pro users: For easier calendar configuration, please use the Calendar Builder or the ICS Calendar block.
For users of the free version, we now offer a Shortcode Builder to help you quickly generate your shortcode.
What is a “shortcode”?
First things first: If you’ve never worked with a shortcode before, it’s helpful to have a brief introduction.
In WordPress, a shortcode is a small bit of HTML-like code inserted between square brackets. It generally consists of the name of the shortcode, followed by attribute/value pairs, to set various options for that shortcode. The result looks like this:
[name attribute="value"]But why? A shortcode is a simple way to insert custom functionality from a plugin into your WordPress content. When WordPress runs into a registered shortcode (that is, a shortcode with a name that it recognizes) in your content, it replaces the shortcode with output from the associated plugin. Many plugins use shortcodes, including ICS Calendar.
Place your ICS Calendar shortcode in the content of a page, block, or text widget, wherever you want your calendar to display.
You can learn more about shortcodes, how they work, and why they exist, in the official WordPress documentation.
Basic ICS Calendar shortcode example
To insert an ICS calendar in a page, use the following shortcode format, replacing the all-caps text with your information as appropriate.
[ics_calendar url="YOUR_ICAL_FEED_URL"]Calendar feed URL
Be sure you are using a subscribe URL (which may end in .ics or have no filename extension), not a web calendar URL (ending in .html). When in doubt, try loading your feed URL directly by pasting it into your browser’s address bar. The browser should download an .ics file. If it displays a page, it’s not an ICS feed URL. For more help, see Finding Your ICS Feed URL on the Getting Started page.
Adding more parameters to your shortcode
Each parameter should consist of the parameter name, an equal sign, and the value, in quotation marks. Parameters should be separated by a space. Your complete shortcode might look something like this:
[ics_calendar url="https://example.com/calendar.ics" view="list" eventdesc="true" limitdays="60"]Visit the All Parameters page for a full list of the available options to customize your calendar display.
Multiple feeds in one calendar
This plugin supports multiple feeds in a single calendar display. Enter multiple URLs in the url parameter, separated by one space, or by the pipe character |, as long as your feed URLs do not contain that character. Do not include other delimiter characters, as they will be interpreted as part of the URL. Example:
[ics_calendar url="https://example.com/calendar1.ics|https://example.com/calendar2.ics"]General notes
Shortcode formatting
WordPress likes to convert “straight quotes” into “smart quotes,” which can cause problems with parsing shortcodes. Be sure that you are only using straight quotes in your shortcode. You can also omit the quotes entirely in most cases; parameters in the shortcode only need to be wrapped in quotes if they contain spaces.
Feed URLs as clickable links
If you are using the Block Editor and you type or paste your shortcode directly into a paragraph block (rather than a shortcode block), WordPress may turn the feed URL into a clickable link (blue and underlined), which can break the shortcode. Click your cursor into the link and use the Block Editor link tool to remove the link.
WordPress general settings
Whenever possible, the plugin relies on your site’s general settings (Settings > General) to determine display parameters. Specifically: Site Language, Timezone, Date Format, Time Format and Week Starts On. If any of these elements of the calendar are not displaying to your liking, please check these settings before trying anything else.